Free The Collector's Edition Volume 1 by Emma Darcy

happy, and afterward, in France, she had loved exploring Paris with him.
    He sifted through the countries they had been in, trying to find signposts to her discontent. Germany…Greece…Hungary…no problems there. Iceland…such a fascinating land of natural violent wonders; volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, glaciers. Jayne had thought it chillingly barren. She’d been rather quiet, glad to leave. India…
    Dan came to a mental halt.
    Jayne had been disturbed by India. The poverty. Children begging in the street. The children had definitely distressed her, especiallythe homeless. That was when the long silences had started, the depression that somehow evolved into desperation during their stay in Iran.
    Iran was hard on women. He acknowledged that. Although he didn’t understand why Jayne had taken it quite so hard. She’d had Nina for company while he and Mike were working. It wasn’t as though she was alone with customs that she hated. Nor was he insensitive to her feelings about it. He had crossed Iraq off his itinerary, although it wasn’t as oppressive for women as Iran.
    He had been quite sure Jayne would love Ireland, yet when he had told her his plan, she had stared right through him as though she hadn’t heard a word, as though he wasn’t even there. Then had come the bombshell that she wanted out of their marriage, and it didn’t matter what he said, what he offered, it was as though she had lowered an impenetrable wall between them, shutting herself off from him.
    He’d had no choice but to let her go.
    Nina had said Jayne needed space in which to work out what she wanted from life. He had mentally given her three months. She’d wanted to go home to Australia. He’d seen her onto a flight to Sydney…then nothing. She might as well have disappeared off the face of the earth. The letters he’d written were returned to sender, uncollected, unanswered.
    He remembered sitting with Nina through the long, painful hours before she died. ‘Jayne loves you, Dan,’ she had whispered close to the end. Then, with tears glistening in her eyes, ‘It’s so hard to give up someone you love. I’m glad I’m going to Mike, but it hurts to leave our baby.’
    ‘She’ll be safe with me, I promise, Nina,’ he had assured her.
    ‘It must have hurt Jayne terribly to leave you. I hope you find each other again, Dan. Do you think she’ll mind about you having my baby?’
    ‘No. She won’t mind, Nina.’
    He would have said anything to comfort her. At the time he had bitterly dismissed Nina’s thoughts about Jayne. They made no sense to him. Nor did they now. People didn’t leave those they loved unless they were forced to by circumstances beyond their control. That wasn’t the case with Jayne.
    Or was it?
    His terms …
    Had he assumed a control over her life that she had found intolerable?
    He shook his head. She had said last night she hadn’t thought him a tyrannical husband.
    He needed more evidence of how Jayne saw things. At least he had made one right assumption. She didn’t mind about him having Nina’s baby. Not that she had any reason to since she didn’t plan on resuming their marriage. Which made it rather odd that she was ready tofight tooth and nail to ensure he do what she considered right for the child.
    He pushed himself to move, tidying the bedroom before going to the bathroom. He idly considered various names for Baby while he washed and shaved. It didn’t hurt him to concede to Jayne on this point. Approval was a warm feeling. The more warm feelings he could generate between them, the closer he’d get to whatever had driven Jayne away from him.
    She had Baby seated on her lap when he entered the kitchen. The mother and child picture they made knifed his heart. Why couldn’t she have…? But he had to push his anger aside, deal with the present.
    ‘How about Muriel?’ It was his mother’s name.
    Jayne flashed him a wary look. ‘I don’t think it fits.’ She nodded to a small, round